Former UFC owners turned down $5 billion buyout offer, per Dana White

Former UFC owners turned down $5 billion buyout offer, per Dana White

The UFC sold this past July for about $4 billion, or $3.775 billion and a quarter-billion in earn-outs, if you want to get technical.

But when the promotion’s former owners were considering which buyout offer it would accept from multiple bidders, they could have gotten more cash – $5 billion, or an additional $975 million, to be exact.

“There were two groups that came in for more money than (current UFC co-owner) Ari (Emanuel),” said UFC President Dana White on the UFC Fight Pass series “The Exchange.” “There was one for $5 billion.”

The problem, according to White, was that he and brothers Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta weren’t sold on the other bidders’ vision for the new company.

“There’s people who I believe add value,” he said. “One of the million things that I respect about the Fertittas – they weren’t just going to let this thing go for the money. They were going to make sure it went to somebody who could actually take it and bring it to the next level.”

Known bidders prior to the sale included the group led by Emanuel’s WME-IMG, who wound up partnering with private equity firms Silver Lake Partners, KKR and MSD Capital/MSD Partners. Reports had indicated the entertainment firm had gotten an offer together after partnering with China-based conglomerates Dalian Wanda Group and Tencent Holdings, and the Kraft Group, which owns the New England Patriots, had pitched in. Also bidding was China Media Capital, a media firm backed by the Chinese government.

Ultimately, WME-IMG won the bidding war and allowed White to cash out a portion of his 9 percent stake in the previous company while rolling over “a significant portion of equity as part of the transaction,” per investor documents on the buyout offer. White, who convinced the Fertitta brothers to buy the struggling UFC for $2 million in 2001, agreed to stay on as president and signed a new five-year contract.

While the executive retreated to a Las Vegas hotel room – owned by the Fertittas – for two days to comprehend the staggering amount of money changing hands in the sale, he claims he never thought about cashing out.

“I couldn’t do that,” White said. “I’m in. I love this. I’m not going anywhere. Everybody keeps asking me, ‘You signed a five year deal…’ – I signed a five-year deal because you have to sign a deal. I would have signed a 55-year deal.

“At the end of the day, it’s not like, ‘Oh, you have a five-year deal, you have to work for five years.’ Nobody can make you work. If I said, ‘(Expletive) it, I’m done, I’m not doing this anymore,’ I can get up and walk out of here right now. Nobody can make you work. So no matter what you signed, you’re either here because you want to be here, or you’re not.

“I want to continue to put on badass fights and break records. I said it a long time ago – this has the potential to be the biggest sport in the world. We have more potential now to reach more people so the world can see the fights.”

White said the promotion’s new owners, which among others includes White, Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell, have a host of new initiatives aimed at growing the business, including a much deeper investment in talent development. Although he was short on specifics, White said the promotion remains poised to become one of the world’s most popular sports.

Even if there’s a whole new cast of characters pushing the UFC toward that goal, White said he’s still on board.

“(Professional skateboarder) Rob Dyrdek called me after the sale, and he said, ‘I’ve gotta ask you a question – how do you get up every day and run the race when you’ve already won the race? I want to know how you strap your (expletive) shoes on and go to work every day,'” White recalled. “I said, ‘Because I was never in it for the money.’ I don’t even think about the money. I’m not like, woo-hoo. It’s a weird thing. It’s not what I’m in it for.”

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